As an ophthalmic photographer by day, and a crafter by night, I welcome you to a world of my favorite things: crafting, primitives, folk art, photography, antiques, thrift stores, and general weirdness! Hope you find a few ideas here; Happy Crafting! :)

The holiday craft bug has bit me and I just finished up another project; a big batch of winter jar scenes using mason jars and bottle brush trees. I have seen them on Pinterest, so here is my version. 🙂

I started by gathering some jars. I used some mason jars I had on hand, and found these ones at Target. I also got a few jars of different shapes, at the Goodwill for super cheap.

The two small jars on the right are salt & pepper shakers I got from Walmart. I love these cause they are like mini snow globes!

I used various bottle brush trees; all of which I found at A.C. Moore in either the doll house/miniature section, or the seasonal Christmas section. I also found some cute mini gold reindeer, perfect for this project.

The ones with the wooden bases were easy to glue in place. I used hot glue and they seem to be holding pretty firm on the glass. Some people who do this project don’t even glue them down. They will simply add their “snow” and then stick the trees down in. I like them glued in place so they don’t keep falling over.

The ones without wooden bases posed a bit of a challenge. I created a ball of hot glue on the ends to use as a base. Looking back it would have been easier to use some clay or floral foam, but too late now!

I then added the “snow.” I started out using coarse sea salt and when I ran out, I got Epsom salt. They both work great as snow. The Epsom salt had a peppermint smell too, which is perfect for Christmas crafts! 🙂

I used tweezers to place the small deer in the snow and big tongs for the deeper jars. I must say this part was a challenge. I did not glue the deer in place because they’d be almost completely covered with the snow. I did push them down in pretty good, and because they are light weight, I am hoping they won’t move around too much.

I picked up this wad of tin garland at the thrift store last year and stashed it away because I knew I could cut them apart and use them to accent winter crafts. I used the snowflakes to tie around the tops of the jars to give them a little extra country Christmas look!

Here is one of the completed jars with the snowflake tied around the neck of the jar. I love how they came out!

For the smaller jars, I left out the deer and just did a little tree scene, and accented it with a raffia bow.

Here are a few more!

For these larger jars, I thought I’d make them into candle holders. I put a small glass tea light holder right into the mouth of the jar. You can get these small glass tea light holders at the Dollar Tree.

And remember these from last year?? I had some smaller trees left over and decided to use them up on these cute car ornaments! I got the cars last year after Christmas at Walmart. I am selling them for about $5.50-$6 each. Honestly, I will probably break even on the car ornaments, but I don’t care because they were really fun to make and a fun item to sell around the holidays!

I’m selling the winter jar scenes are ranging from $4-$8 at my co-op, so we’ll see how they go. Hope everyone has a Happy Turkey Day! 🙂

Another Pinterest inspired craft has taken over my kitchen counter, this time in the form of cute toy cars toting Christmas trees! Some are table top decorations and some are hanging ornaments for the tree; it is up to you which kind to make. They are fun and super-duper easy. Here’s my version!

First I went to the Christmas section of A.C. Moore to get some bottle-brush trees, but being so close to Christmas, they were sold out! Luckily, I was able to find some in the dollhouse section where there is a variety of miniature items. I found a package with different sized trees and snow-covered branches…perfect!

I got the vintage themed cars at Walmart. You could use any cars you want, but I just love the vintage look of the VW’s and old Chevy’s!

To tie them atop the cars, I used red & white baker’s twine and thin hemp that I had on hand. This particular type of hemp is found in the jewelry-making section of the craft store.

Then, simply tie them on top! Some tutorials said glue the tree in place, but I didn’t find that necessary.

With the Chevy’s, I was able to slide the hemp through the windows. For the buses, I had to tie them all the way around. Both look pretty cute!

Great for stocking stuffers, craft shows, small gifts, or for decorating the house! I just love these and can’t wait to make more!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends, family, and blog buddies! 🙂

Welcome to Eyeballs By Day, Crafts By Night!

As an ophthalmic photographer by day, and a crafter by night, I welcome you to a world of my favorite things: primitives, country crafts, folk art, photography, antiques, flea markets, thrift stores, eyeballs, and enjoying the simple things in life!